The Package
by Kouji Tamino
Summary: Kaname, angry at Sousuke for not knowing what White Day is, finds a mysterious package addressed to him. Curious to know what's inside, she delivers it to him and sticks around. Sousuke, however, is more than a little suspicious... Light, silly fluff.


Hello! And welcome to my first venture into Full Metal Panic! fan fiction. I've sort of lost motivation for the other, more long running stories I've been writing, so I decided to write a shorter one this time to get the creative juices flowing. This will be a quick, short, one-shot. It's nothing special, and definitely not my best, but it's just an idea I had.

---Kouji Tamino

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**The Package**

Kaname Chidori walked down the sidewalk with an exhausted look on her face. The aqua-green haired girl had experienced _quite_ a stressful day. A certain military obsessed maniac who also happened to be her friend and bodyguard had quite possibly set a world record for explosions within a public school _outside_ of the science lab. The damages this time was immense. The entire left wing of the building was closed for repairs. The reason for so much wanton destruction? "Suspicious trading of packages outside of the X-Mas season…" was his reply.

"Argh!" Kaname gritted her teeth, stomping her feet. "It's **White Day**, you idiot!" Sighing, she calmed down and slowly dragged herself the rest of the way to her apartment. She bit her lip gently, wiping her eyes. "What the hell do I care, though?" she asked herself, sniffling. "It's not like I care whether he gets me anything or not…" As she reached her apartment, she noticed that she had gotten a rather large, child-sized package, waiting on her doorstep. "Hello, what's this?" Looking it over, her eyebrow twitched as she realized that it was addressed to Sousuke and not her. A flaming aura seemed to appear around her as she shook violently. "Why that--" Settling down, she smiled. "Now, now… Let's not get all worked up… Let's just take this up to him." Carrying the package in her arms, she walked to Sousuke's apartment. When she arrived, she put the box down for a moment and knocked on the door. "Sousuke? Are you there?" she asked, "I have something for you."

Waiting for a few moments, she sighed as he answered the door. The slightly scruffy looking boy stood there with a nervous look on his face. Kaname had seemed quite upset with him earlier, and he had hoped that he could calm his nerves. But now that she had arrived at his apartment, he was once again about to have a break down. "M-Ms. Chidori! What a surprise! I apolog--" His eyes widened as she pressed a finger against his lips to silence him.

"It's okay…" She replied, in a gentle voice. Picking up the package, she smiled. "Here! It's for you! It got delivered to me by mistake! Um…" Curious to know what was in the mysterious box, she added "May I come in?".

Eyeing the brown box suspiciously, he nodded. He would have to keep an eye on it, however. "Come in." As he stepped aside to let her in, he relieved her of the somewhat heavy object. "Who is it from?" He asked as he set it down, still eyeing the box as if it would jump up and kill him. He closed the door as the girl walked inside and locked it.

"Oh, it didn't say…" Kaname replied, tilting her head slightly. "So I'm really curious as to what's inside…" Sitting down, she frowned. "It sure was heavy."

Sweating slightly, Sousuke gave his reply. If the box indeed contained some sort of dangerous booby trap, he did not want to endanger Kaname's life. "Chidori, I think you should leave… Now."

"No way!" she shouted, crossing her arms in defiance as she sat.

"Um…" he began, his eyebrow twitching. This was not good. She was already making the situation more complicated than need be. "Excuse me? Ms. Chidori, what did you just--"

"Yeah, you heard me correctly!" She shouted, her lip pouted out. "If I'm going to almost break my back hauling this stupid thing all the way over here, I should at least get to see what's in it!" She still ached a little from the trip. She wanted to make sure this whole thing was worth her time. "I'm not leaving until I see what's inside!"

The sergeant's left eyebrow twitched erratically. He was not in the mood to argue with her. The last time she had disobeyed his orders, he had pulled a gun on her. "Ms. Chidori--" he began to explain, quickly being interrupted. He growled, looking away. Why was she always like this? Couldn't she see that he was trying to protect her?

"Sousuke, I don't wanna!" the girl shouted, frowning. "Why are you being so uptight about it? I'm sure it was just a mistake on the sender's part!"

"That's a chance that I just can't take!" The mercenary said sternly, bordering on shouting. Lowering his voice, he looked back towards her. "If anything were to happen to you, I--" He gasped as she placed her hands on his cheeks, smiling at him. "Ms. Chidori…"

"Sousuke… Thank you." she replied softly, slowly standing up and dusting off her skirt. "If it really bothers you that much, I'll leave you alone. You're right, that could be something dangerous in there." Laughing a bit, she cheered up. "Besides, I wouldn't want to be blown up as well!"

Sousuke stared in confusion, wondering what Kaname found funny about him being blown up, shrugging it off, he thought for a moment. A risky idea suddenly came to mind. Tilting his head slightly, he began to explain his proposition. "Go into the farthest room away from me. I'll open it from my kitchen. If it explodes, I'll take the brunt of the explosion. Fortunately, a bomb of this size can only hope to kill the person opening it."

"S-Sousuke…" Kaname said in an increasingly worried tone, genuine concern growing on her face. The urgency of the situation began to dawn on her. "You don't _have_ to open it, you know… We could toss it out, or--"

"Negative." He replied, interrupting her this time. "It could put other curious civilians at risk. And even if their curiosity isn't peaked, it could be a time bomb and still put them in danger." Sweat began to run down his brow, his hands shaking. What if he was wrong, and the bomb had plenty of power to blow up the entire building, no, the whole apartment? "This is serious." He was jarred by his thoughts by Kaname putting a hand on his shoulder.

Smiling sadly, Chidori gave him a comforting look. "I'll stick around, then…" Walking over to a corner in the living room, she sat down, giving him a thumbs up. "Good luck…"

Gripping the wrapping paper, he nervously peeled away the wrapping paper. Nothing. As he pulled the box from the outer wrapping, he stood up and went into another room. He quickly returned with a box opener. He slowly, cautiously, split the box open. Gulping audibly, he let the blade slowly slice through the tape holding the box closed. Revealed to find that nothing had gone wrong, he proceeded to gently open it. Sagara began to sift through the packaging peanuts, pulling out… A quite heavy, talking Bonta-kun doll. "What in the--" Staring at the toy in complete disbelief, the tension in the room quickly dissipating, Sousuke no longer sweating because of the bomb threat, but because of the new threat looming over his head. "K-Kaname, I believe it would be in everyone's best interest if you calmed do--" His head snapped downwards as he was once again rendered the victim of Kaname's harisen. "Never mind…"

Huffing furiously, Chidori put away her fan. Where she put it, and where she got it from in the first place for that matter, is a mystery. Clenching her fist tightly, she growled in annoyance as she began to relentlessly pounded on her gung-ho bodyguard's head. "You stupid, idiotic, lunk-headed, crazy otaku!" Grabbing him in a headlock, she twisted his head roughly, gritting her teeth together. "How dare you waste my time like that! You got us all worked up for nothing!" Not thinking, she continued her rant. "I hate you! I wish it _had_ been a bomb, and that you were blown sky high!" Calming down, she snatched up the doll and hugged it, a pout on her face. She smiled slightly as it shouted a cute 'FUMMOFU!'. Sticking her tongue out at Sousuke, she replied "I suppose now we know why it was so heavy…"

Sousuke took the verbal abuse as usual. By now, he had gotten used to Kaname's angry outbursts. He just wished he knew what was upsetting her so. They had made it out alive, hadn't they? Of course, there had been no threat to begin with, so he could understand a little. In fact, he had suddenly remembered being sent on a raid to find nuclear warheads in China with Kurz and Mao that ended up being a complete misunderstanding due to communication errors. Mao was particularly peeved. She had screamed quite a few expletives on the way home.

But something still wasn't right… Why was the doll so heavy? A voice box shouldn't add that much weight. His eyes slowly widened as he heard a foreign ticking sound. Damn! He had been caught off guard! "Chidori, get down!" he shouted, grabbing the doll and pushing the girl to the ground. Running towards the window, he was suddenly caught up in the explosion of the Bonta-Bomb. The room shook from the force, smoke quickly filling the area.

Kaname coughed, wincing as she stood up in pain. "Ow! Sousuke, did you really have to be so rough?" Hearing no response, she increasingly became more worried for the boy. "Sousuke?" she asked again, voice shaky. As the smoke cleared, she saw him on the floor, clothes only slightly singed, but unconscious. "Oh my god, Sousuke!" Running to his side, she kneeled down and stared at him with concern. "Are you alright? Please speak to me!"

Sousuke began to cough, signifying that he was still alive. She smiled, tears running down her face. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked up at her with a perplexed expression. "Kaname? Why are you crying?"

"You big idiot…" she babbled, sniffling. "You really scared me for a moment…" She gasped as Sousuke brought out a small, rectangular box from nowhere. "Wha-What? What's this about, Sousuke?" Was this for her? She mentally brushed that aside. No way it could be for her… Even if it was, she wasn't sure if she would want it…

"It's for you, Ms. Chidori." Sousuke said in confirmation. After handing it to her, he stood up and dusted himself off. "On the way home, I got a call from Kurz, explaining this 'White Day' that had you so worked up earlier. I decided to go get you something to perhaps reconcile things with you. This whole mess with the bomb made me completely forget, but here it is…"

Slowly opening the box, expecting tracking devices and security devices disguised as cutesy jewelry, she was horrified to find she had been given a dog tag. She had expected Sousuke to be better than that! I mean, who in their right mind gives a girl a dog tag for White Day? Groaning, she smacked her forehead. "Of course… _You _would…"

"Is something wrong, Ms. Chidori?" Sousuke asked, a bit confused. Was she not happy with her gift? The woman he had purchased it from had told him that whomever he gave it to would be in for a pleasant surprise. Had she lied to him to obtain information about Ms. Chidori? He glared at one in particular, thinking that perhaps he would have to interrogate her later.

Kaname shook her head no, lying. "It's fine…" She replied softly, standing up. "Well, I'm sorry for everything that's happened today… I'm going home." She walked towards the door, turning in his direction one last time. "I'll see tomorrow at school, I guess…"

"Kaname…" Sousuke began, suddenly catching on. He had one chance to make things right, and he was not going to blow it for once. "Before you leave, look at the back."

Tilting her head in confusion, she looked at the back of the dog tag. She gasped as she examined it, tears of happiness running down her face. "Oh… Oh Sousuke…" Looking to him with an appreciative expression, she ran over and tackle hugged him, sending them both falling to the floor. The dog tag fell to the floor, the other side displaying a message: 'To the girl who's always been by my side, who without her help I would have been surely lost…' Smiling down at the boy, Kaname rested her head on his chest, invoking an uncharacteristic blush from him.

"Um, Miss Chidori…" Sousuke began nervously, not expecting such a… playful reaction. He liked when she showed this side to her. It was, dare he say it... cute. "I um--" He was quickly silenced by another delicate finger to hislips.

"Thank you, Sousuke… You big dork." Sure, it was still a dog tag, but it was a dog tag with heart. She pouted her lip slightly. "Are you sure you're all right?" she asked, referring to the explosion. She really worried about him sometimes. He had a dangerous job, and while she would never admit it to anyone, she was terribly frightened for him when he went off on missions. In fact, who in the world had sent that package?

Where had that package come from? This was the question Sousuke was asking himself. He shook his head. That would have to wait until a bit later. Right now, he was enjoying some quality time with the girl he cared for. Smiling slightly, he answered her question. "...Affirmitave." As long as she was safe, it was not a problem.

**End**


End file.
